Red Lobster CEO says waiting tables shaped his turnaround playbook

Red Lobster CEO Damola Adamolekun says his first job waiting tables helped prepare him for the people side of a restaurant turnaround. The 37-year-old executive told Fortune that serving guests at a Maryland restaurant taught him how to read customers, defuse tension and improve someone’s day.

Adamolekun, who now leads a chain with about 30,000 employees, spoke to Fortune during Jobs for the Future’s Horizons conference. He said restaurant guests often arrive looking for a break from whatever is happening in their lives, and a server’s job is to make them feel better.

“You become good at managing difficult people and situations, which is an important skill,” Adamolekun told Fortune. “You learn how to lift people from one mindset to another one.”

From server to restaurant CEO

According to Fortune, Adamolekun worked at Clyde’s, then a local chain in suburban Maryland, while he was in high school. He later built a career that moved through finance, investing and restaurant operations before he was brought in to lead Red Lobster.

Fortune reported that Adamolekun was born in Nigeria to a neurosurgeon father and pharmacist mother. His childhood included time in Zimbabwe and the Netherlands before his family moved to central Illinois when he was 9, then later settled in Columbia, Maryland.

As a teenager, Adamolekun became interested in investing, he told Fortune. He said he opened a stock portfolio, bought shares and began studying Warren Buffett by reading finance books and Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters.

That interest took him to Brown University, where Fortune said he became a leader in the school’s investment club. He then spent two years at Goldman Sachs before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he met Buffett.

After graduating from Harvard in 2017, Adamolekun joined John Paulson’s Paulson & Co., according to Fortune. There, he pitched the acquisition of P.F. Chang’s; after the deal closed in 2019, he became CEO of the restaurant chain at age 31.

Red Lobster’s repair job

Adamolekun later led P.F. Chang’s through the pandemic period and returned the chain to growth, Fortune reported. In 2024, he was named to lead Red Lobster after the seafood chain filed for bankruptcy protection.

Fortune reported that Red Lobster had been damaged by several decisions, including the move in 2023 to make its endless shrimp promotion a permanent menu item. Recent court filings from former Red Lobster CEO Jonathan Tibus said that change put the company $11 million in the red in one quarter.

As part of the turnaround, Adamolekun closed more than 100 restaurants, Fortune reported. He has also simplified the menu, put money into delayed restaurant maintenance and focused the company on the guest experience.

Adamolekun told the Jobs for the Future conference that Red Lobster serves more than food. “What we serve is a guest experience, and a lot of that is human connection,” he said.

He has also pushed Red Lobster to make greater use of technology, including artificial intelligence, Fortune reported. Adamolekun said AI could reduce time managers spend on inventory, scheduling and administrative work, giving them more time with guests and staff.

His advice on AI

Adamolekun told Fortune that concerns about AI are not baseless, especially as the technology changes work for younger employees. He said businesses and workers can still use it as a practical tool.

“In the short term, it’s here, and the best thing you can probably do is figure out how to use it to your advantage,” Adamolekun said, according to Fortune. He compared AI to a high-powered assistant, while warning that workers still need to apply their own judgment.

For Gen Z, Adamolekun’s advice was to keep learning the technology and look for openings. “Stay with it. Be persistent. Find opportunities,” he told Fortune. “Leverage AI to your advantage.”

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.